Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Equity in Open Access

"As we move towards more open access to research, it is increasingly apparent that there is an emerging risk that as equity of access to read and use research increases, equity to publish decreases and that many actors in the research publishing ecosystem may become more disenfranchised than before. The causes of this inequity are not just financial but also structural and cultural. Many recent initiatives such as Plan S, UNESCO, and work from the International Science Council (ISC) have highlighted inequity as a challenge.

Open Access Australasia adopted “Equity in scholarly communications, to both access and publish research” as its key principle in 2020 and all our work is framed around this. In particular, we recognise that a well supported, diverse set of approaches to open access is essential to support equity in open access. This workshop is convened by Open Access Australasia in collaboration with OA2020 the ISC, cOAlition S and additional partners, aims to bring together a wide range of participants from across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the immediate region to discuss the challenges to equitable open access in 2023 in this region and to explore potential solutions. The ideas from this workshops will expand and build on insights gathered in a previous workshop focused on viewpoints from Africa and Europe, and will be used to inform the development of practical mechanisms and action lines to reduce inequities that can be taken up by the different actors in scholarly communication, globally and within the open access community in Australasia and the Asia Pacific...."